


Salt

by Livvy Moore (Tauria)



Series: Three's Company [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff, I'd tag all the parts of the poly ship, Modern Fantasy World, Modern Magic, Multi, Pranks, but really and truthfully only two of them are in this one, everyone else is just mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 18:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13440906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tauria/pseuds/Livvy%20Moore
Summary: Bri wakes up early and spends who-knows-how-long unsupervised. Cassius would say that's never good news. Aelia just grins, and gives Bri a taste of her own medicine.





	Salt

Bri is always the last one to get up. Always. Aelia wakes up first; followed closely by Cassius. Cassius makes the coffee while Aelia starts flipping pancakes. Bri doesn't stumble out until the food is already on the table. Even the kids beat her to waking.

So when Aelia wakes up and finds her spot in the bed empty, her stomach does a funny little flip.

It's not the first time she's woken up and found her left side empty—Bri always comes to bed last. Sometimes she falls asleep on the couch or in her office or, one memorable time, on the floor by Alice's bed. So though her stomach flips, Aelia ignores it because, honestly, she's a little overly paranoid most days.

She gets up, the same as always. She throws on a bathrobe over her nightgown and cinches it tightly around her waist. She pads out of the room and—

The kitchen light is on.

She creeps over to the door; every muscle taunt and ready to attack and—

It's just Bri. Sitting at the table, sipping coffee as she stares vacantly at a stack of papers in front of her.

"Bri?" Aelia ventures cautiously.

Bri looks up, pushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face. She hates how long it is, Aelia knows, but won't cut it off. "Morning," she says cheerily.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"Wonderfully," Bri assures her. "Best I've had in years, actually. Had to take one of featherhead's sleeping draughts for it, though."

"Why?" Aelia furrows her brow.

"Reports have been stressing the hell out of me," she says. "Got too riled up to sleep. So…"

"Sleeping draught."

"Yep." She looks cheery. "Of course, the reports were still there when I woke up, so gonna have to deal with those eventually, but doing it after a good night's rest is preferable than doing it on no sleep at all." She shakes her head. "But enough about that. I made coffee."

Aelia grins. She pads over to the coffee pot and pours herself a cup. She dumps an insane amount of sugar because—well. She has a sweet tooth, alright? And she's never really been a coffee drinker to begin with; that's all Cassius.

From the first teeny sip, she knows something is off. She reaches into the sugar bowl and licks a fingers full of white crystals off. She grimaces.

Yup. Salt.

She places the lid back on the sugar pot and slides it around the back of the machine. She sneaks the extra sugar pot out of the lower cabinets, under the pretense of grabbing the pre-made pancake mix. No sense it letting anyone else fall prey to Bri's prank.

Aelia sets the pancake mix next to the stove and sits down across from Bri. She lifts the cup to her lips.

A mischievous glint enters her lover's eyes; her lips twitch with the smile she fights to keep at bay.

Aelia meets her gaze and begins to drink.

As Aelia slowly drains the cup, her tongue protesting the entire time, Bri's mirth fades and is replaced by a look of abject horror. By the time Aelia's finished, Bri looks thoroughly cowed. Aelia puts her cup down with a clack.

"Delicious," she says. "You should make coffee more often."

Bri's mouth opens, then shuts. Opens, shuts. Open, shut. Aelia fights a grin.

"…I hate you," Bri mutters, dropping her head to the table.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr as [ladycravenheart](https://ladycravenheart.tumblr.com/) or [livvywrites](https://archiveofourown.org/works/livvywrites.tumblr.com/). And check this story out on [FictionPress](https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3311639/1/Three-s-Company), if you like!


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